Friday Notes: Anxious About Nothing

"Do not be anxious about anything, 

but in everything

by prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving

let your requests be known to God."

~Philippians 4:6~

It has been a crazy week for my wife and I.  To kick things off, we worked on our budget and had a sobering - yet helpful - discovery.  After balancing our finances and adding in our upcoming expenses (our baby girl's birth in August, plane tickets to the UK and US for Sep, Nov & Jan, etc.), we realized that we only had 8% in our budget to pay for life's living expenses (food, the car's gas/petrol, etc.).  No wonder we've been feeling so financially tight!

Life's unexpected expenses took us by surprise this year.  Our baby's birth is going to cost twice as much as anticipated (and that's if nothing goes wrong) and our deposit for our apartment in England and our plane tickets set us back over $6,000 (over 20% of our income for the year).  So, that's how our week started off.

Then on Wednesday morning, per my normal routine, I got my morning cup of coffee and sat down in front of the computer to do my bible study and catch up on emails.  What wasn't routine was spilling that entire mug of coffee on our only computer.  Thankfully we probably own the easiest-to-take-apart laptop that Mac has ever made.  I was able to take it all apart, clean every piece - including each individual key - and put it back together. In a huge answer to prayer, it seems to be working fine.

But, all that to say, it's been a hard week and this all on top of preparing for the baby, finishing up my PhD research here in Kenya, getting ready to move back to the UK, and thinking about job applications and interviews this fall.  When Paul writes to the church at Philipi and says, "be anxious about nothing", it's a word for me during this time where I'm anxious about just about everything.  

On top of this, I have the really great opportunity to present a paper at a Cambridge/British Institute conference in just under two weeks time here in Nairobi.  Having been away from the academic community this year, I was feeling well out of my league yesterday.  Then I read this in Philippians this morning:

"I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

~Philippians 4:13~

A word from God for me at this time.  Baby's paperwork? Becoming a father? Finishing my PhD? Applying and interviewing for a job? I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength!

I can't say I now rely on Christ's strength 100% of the time, but I'm learning to.  As much as this is one of the most difficult seasons of my life and a very difficult one for us as a married couple (although we've only been married 2 years), it is a season in which perseverance is building my faith.  So, laying hold of Christ's promise to give me the strength to do all that is on my plate and resting in His ability to accomplish all things, I am committed to persevering.  To keep on keeping on.  And to hold on to a God who is both always faithful and infinitely good to take care of all our needs! (Matthew 6:33)